Bracelet c. 1940

This bracelet was made by A'shiwi, also known as Zuni people, and is currently held at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Look at all that turquoise! The tiny stones feel like little stitches, carefully crafted onto the silver. It's process-oriented, right? Like each stone is a brushstroke in a painting or a word in a poem. They’re almost identical, but when you look closely you can see they each have their own unique marbling and shape. This piece reminds me of Agnes Martin, who also worked with repetition to make ethereal grids. The turquoise stones are set into a metal grid. The scale is so intimate, I can imagine the maker of this piece focusing in on one small area at a time. It’s almost meditative. The way these stones are attached reminds me of those paintings with impasto that has so much texture that it looks like cake frosting. Thinking about the repetitive, grid-like structure, the contrast of the turquoise against the silver, and the intimacy of the bracelet makes you wonder about how it felt to make this. It really is beautiful.